I'm Nobody, Who are you?
by SilentAutumn
Summary: "Are you Nobody too?" If yes, then join the group! That's what Lei did, after being "recruited" by Emil. But as Lei stays in the group, he begins to have some fond feelings toward Emil. Are Nobodies supposed to feel this way?
1. Chapter 1

_**Author: I will continue What is Love I swear guys! D:  
**_

* * *

I was playing a video game in my room when my father called me.

"Leon," said Dad, "Come down here."  
"It's Lei. . ." I murmured before coming downstairs to my father.

I didn't even have time to ask what was up when "daddy" shoved a list of chores to do in my face.

"I need you to do some things," said my dad, "The house needs to be in order for tomorrow."  
I rolled my eyes, "Fine. . ."

I decided to go to the grocery store first. I thought I needed some time away from my father. I walked into the supermarket. Even though the area was in the midst of a heat wave in summer, it was strangely cold inside the store. It made me shiver.

I went down the frozen food section to get some quick microwaveable food for me. I was looking at some dieting food when I noticed someone looking at me from the corner of my eye. I turned to the person staring at me.

The person was dressed in a sweater, pants, and boots. Didn't he know it was the middle of summer? He looked about my age. He was staring at me intensely, and with a creepy smile on his face. I tried to smile back politely, but it just made it more awkward. I thought if it stayed anymore silent I would scream.

"Hey." I said loudly.  
The man replied in a shy tone, "Hello."  
"Do you want something?" I tried to sound polite, but my tone sounded rude.  
The man shook his head, "Oh, no. I was just thinking that you look nice is all."  
"Like, thanks." I replied  
"Real nice…" murmured the man, but I heard him.

Damn this is creepy. Isn't this is how rape starts? I already feel freaking violated. I want it to look like I was ignoring the man now, so I started looking at the nutrition facts of frozen foods I had no interests in. When I looked back at where the man was after a moment, he was gone.

I finished the grocery shopping quickly. I didn't want to run into that weirdo again. When I got home, I wrote in my journal:

_"Note to Self: Stay away from frozen food section of grocery store."_

I continued with the chores. I decided to wash the dishes next. I was halfway done with the dishes when I sighed. I saw my breath. The fuck..? It was, like, a thousand degrees in the house. I glanced out the window and saw the man again. When I looked out the window again, the man disappeared. I closed the curtains.

Okay, so next is mowing the lawn. I _did not_ want to go outside after seeing Potential Rapist out there (I decided to give the mysterious man a name, and Potential Rapist seemed to fit the man perfectly). I pulled the chord to the mower several times before it finally started. It was really hot outside. I'm beginning to think that Dad just wanted me to do all these chores because he didn't want to break a sweat, like I was doing right now.

"This sucks…" I murmured.  
"What sucks?"

Oh. My. God. It's Potential Rapist again. Fuck doing chores.

_"Note to Self: Stay away from frozen food section of grocery store._

_Who needs chores anyway?"_

* * *

I awoke to sunlight. I sluggishly went downstairs and made himself a bowl of cereal. Dad walked into the room with an annoyed look on his face.

"Leon!"  
"It's Lei, Arthur."  
"One: I legally changed your name to Leon. Two: Don't call your father by his first name. Three: You barely did any chores!"  
"So?"  
"We're having important guests over _today_, Leon! And the house is still a mess!" Dad pinched the bridge of his nose, "You know what? Can you at least tidy up a bit for me? Be as lazy as you want after that."

I finished my cereal then started to pick up a little. I thought if I did this it would please Daddy Dearest somewhat. After an hour or so, it looked clean enough and went to play video games.

The doorbell rang. I thought it was the "important guests" so he ignored it. The bell rang again. Dammit, Dad. I bet he's just testing how lazy I really am. I let out an exaggerated sigh and went downstairs. I opened the door. Potential Rapist sure is persistent.

"Hello again." Said Potential Rapist.

I didn't say anything.

"It's lonely out here. May I come inside?"

I slammed the door in his face and ran upstairs. I looked out the window of my room. Potential Rapist disappeared yet again.

_"Kill me."_

The "important guests" came and went. Dad tried to introduce me to them but I convinced him not to. I hate guests I don't know.

I went outside after a few hours without telling Dad. I'm 16, so I should be able to go outside without telling him, right? I listened to some music on my iPod, and got so caught up in it I got lost. I took out my cell phone to use the GPS it had in it. I noticed I didn't have any bars, wherever I was. Someone suddenly grabbed my arm and covered my mouth. I dropped my cell phone.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up. I don't remember falling asleep…I wasn't in my bed. I wasn't in my home. I don't know where I was. Maybe I should call Dad…

I stuck my hand in my pocket. All there was in there was my iPod. I decided I couldn't just sit here, so I stood up. It looked depressing in here, wherever I was. It was big and roomy. It looked like the inside of some empty storage building.

"Hmm, you're awake." Said a voice behind him.

He turned around.

"Oh no…." I said quietly, "You're Potential Rapist…"  
"I…what?" said Potential Rapist(?), "…Oh. No, no. I'm not that _freak_ that's been watching you."  
"Th-then who are you?"  
"Emil Steilsson. A pleasure."

I took a good look at Emil. He looked _exactly_ like Potential Rapist. The only difference was that they acted differently towards me.

"Dude," I said, annoyed, "You just _kidnapped_ me, didn't you?"  
Emil's eyes widened, "I didn't kidnap you! I recruited you. There's a difference you know!"  
"Oh yeah?" I snapped, "Recruit me for what?"  
"The Nobodies!"  
"The Nobodies?"  
"That's what I said." Emil smiled, "A group of people who are trying not to be killed."  
"Killed by who?"  
Emil facepalmed, "You know! That creepy stalker that follows you around! The guy you call 'Potential Rapist.'"  
"You?"  
"It's not me! He just _looks_ like me!"  
I sat back down, "Explain this all to me. Please."

Emil sat down next to me, "Just like you've been seeing someone that looks like me, I've been seeing someone that looks like you."  
"Creepy."  
"Yeah. He's been following me around for half a year now. No one else can see him. I tried to confront him one time and he called me a Nobody. He said I shouldn't be in this world any longer, and he'd make sure I'd get out of it."  
"Really creepy."  
"If I walked somewhere high up, he'd try to push me to my death. If I was chopping something with a sharp knife, he'd try to make me stab myself with it. I tried to tell my older brother, Lukas, that someone was trying to kill me, but he just said it was my imagination. He caught me sometimes struggling not to stab myself with a knife, so he took me to therapy. Not even the _therapist_ believes me…"  
"Well, Potential Rapist has been following me around since yesterday. He didn't try to kill me or anything yet, he just stares at me like a weirdo."  
"That's what mine did to me at first. Give him a week…"  
"Like, do you still see this guy? Or does that stop when you join this group?"  
"It didn't stop," said Emil silently, "It will never stop."

This sounds torturous. I wonder if everyone in this group is all depressed and shit. Hope not. If they are all probably ditch them. I have better things to worry about, like beating the Final Boss in Final Fantasy XIII.

"Is there anyone else in this 'group'?"  
Emil thought for a moment, "Yes. But they're all long gone by now."  
"They…died?"  
"No," said Emil, "Well, I don't think so. We were exploring in the woods when a bunch of _them_ came. We split up. I couldn't find any of them. I don't know if they're all alive or if I'm the only one left…"  
"Then," I said with a smile, "I guess we have to find them!"

I stood back up and walked toward a door. Emil grabbed my arm.

"How will we find them?!" yelled Emil.  
"We just….look for them. That's how I find my things." I opened the door, "We can start by looking in that forest."

Emil didn't stop me after I said that. In fact, he followed me. Good thing, too. I would've never found that forest. Emil was looking at me curiously for some time. I think he's wondering if I'm serious about this.

Finally, Emil spoke up, "Why are you helping me?"  
"Why not," I asked, "It's better than doing nothing."  
"We just met each other. How could you trust me so easily?"  
"Because if you trick me or whatever I'll just ditch. Besides, this could be fun."  
"But I kidnapped you!"  
"You _recruited_ me." I winked.

We both entered the forest. It was cool and dark. Birds were chirping happily and squirrels were retreating into the trees. Emil was looking around, making sure that there were no Potential Rapists around.

Emil grabbed my arm again, "Stop."  
"What now?" I said a little irritated.  
Emil pointed to a tree branch, "Look."

It was a Potential Rapist! But…it wasn't _my_ Potential Rapist. This one looked like me. It was Emil's Potential Rapist. I should probably give them a different name because I don't think "Potential Rapist" fits anymore.

"Helloooo Emil!" said the Potential Rapist.  
"Kaoru…"  
I blinked, "Kaoru?"  
"Kaoru Wang~." said the Potential Rapist, "You must be Leon Kirkland!"  
"It's Lei..." I said automatically.  
Emil interrupted, "Lei, this is my Reaper, Kaoru. He's really creepy and persistent."  
Kaoru waved and smiled, "That's right!"  
"Reaper? Heh, that's better than 'Potential Rapist'."  
"Anyway," Kaoru then jumped off the branch he was sitting on, "Emil. You know you can't live forever~."  
"But you can't make me die now!" yelled Emil.  
Kaoru sighed, "You still are so, so ignorant…"  
"Dude," I said still confused, "Why do you wanna kill Emil anyway?"  
"It's my job," explained Kaoru, "Neither Emil nor you are supposed to exist. You were an _accident_."

An accident? I'm pretty sure my dad impregnating my mom wasn't an accident. At least, I don't think so…

"Lei!" said Emil, "Let's get out of here!"

Emil started running from where we came, but I quickly grabbed his arm.

"Not that way! We still have to find your friends, remember?"  
"F-forget about them! They're probably not even—"  
"E…mil?"

Emil, Kaoru, and I turned around to see who it was. It was a young, dark-skinned girl. She was filthy.

"Emil! It's really you!" the girl ran past Kaoru and into Emil's arms.  
"Michelle?!" screamed Emil, "What happened?!"

I'm really confused now.

"We were worried sick about you, Emil! You disappeared when all those Reapers attacked us! We…we thought they killed you…"  
Emil blinked, "I-I just ran in the other direction back towards the safe house. I thought _all of you_ died…"  
"Helloooo?" Kaoru was tired of being ignored, "Feh. Forget you guys. I'll come back for Emil when he's all alone!"

Kaoru disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hi!" said Michelle, "I'm Michelle Macham!"  
"I'm Lei Kirkland. . ."  
"Kirkland? Aren't you Asian? What a funny last name for an Asian kid!"  
"Tsk!" interrupted Emil, "How rude!"  
"Sorry…" Michelle frowned.  
I _tried _to smile, "It's fine."  
Emil said, "Anyway, this isn't a very good place to talk."  
"Yeah!" said Michelle, "C'mon! I'll take you back to the others!"

Michelle grabbed Emil's arm enthusiastically, but Emil frowned. He snatched his arm from her and shook his head. Emil seems to be hiding some secrets~.

"No…" murmured Emil.

"What?"  
"I can't go Michelle. I'm staying at the safe house for a while."  
"Wh-why? We need you!"  
"Not yet," Emil smiled, "Besides, I think the safe house is a great place to teach Lei some things about who he really is."

Who I really am?

"…Okay…" Michelle was uneasy about all of this.

"Go head back to the others."  
"Bye, Emil," Michelle turned around, "We'll be waiting for you."

Emil and I went back to the safe house. I thought Emil actually wanted to go see his buddies. Oh wait…I forced him to.

"Sorry about all that…" Emil opened the door to the safe house.

"Why are you sorry about it? That was no big deal." I walked inside.

"Michelle tends to say whatever comes out of her mouth…"  
"Really now?" I stuck my hand in my pocket and took out my iPod.

My iPod is completely filled with message notifications. I checked the messages.

**8 MESSAGES FROM KIKU HONDA  
**_(4 hrs. ago) Arthur is looking for you._

_(4 hrs. ago)Where are you?_

_(4 hrs. ago)Are you okay?_

_(4 hrs. ago)Lei?_

_(3 hrs. ago)Everyone's worried about you._

_(3 hrs. ago)Are you lost?_

_(3 hrs. ago)Did you lose your iPod?_

_(3 hrs. ago)Please send me a message back if you read this._

"Something the matter?" asked Emil, but I was barely listening to him.

I started to type up a reply.

_I'm fine, Kiku. I'm not sure where I am, but don't worry. I don't want to go back to Arthur just y_

. . .

I deleted the message I was about to send.

"It's fine," I said, "Someone's just trying to talk to me."

"Oh no," Emil started to worry, "They're trying to look for you, aren't they?"  
"Who?"  
"Your family. They noticed you were gone…"  
"Well, obviously. I _did_ plan on coming home earlier."  
Emil looked away from me, "They'll stop soon, I hope. You can't go home."

The thought of never going home made me smile. I _hate _my dad and I _hate _my life there.

Still curious though, I asked why not.

Emil sighed, "If you go back to your home, you'll surely die."

"How do you know that? I could just stay away from the kitchen, that's where all the knives and stuff are."

"No, no." Emil shook his head, "You wouldn't understand. I'll explain it to you later."

I was about to beg for him to just tell me now and not keep a secret from me, but my stomach grumbled. I wonder when the last time I ate was. It was just this morning with the bowl of cereal I barely had a chance to touch before Dad started bitching at me. My stomach growled louder.

Emil laughed a little, "It's been a while since you last eaten something, huh? C'mon, I'll take you to a restaurant. My treat."

Emil showed me to a nearby restaurant. It was an okay place, unlike the snobby fancy ones Dad takes me to now and then. And I think this is the first time I got to go to a restaurant with people I know and I didn't have to wear a suit.

"Please don't order anything too expensive," said Emil, "I only have so much money."

I nodded and just ordered a bowl of soup. I don't think I was that hungry, my stomach likes to exaggerate. Emil ordered the same.

It was dark by the time we got up to leave. Staring at the nighttime out the window made me tired and I let out a yawn.

Emil opened the door for me, "After you~."  
"Such a gentleman~!" I teased as I walked out the door.

It made him blush.

* * *

"So, where can I sleep?" I asked this as I walked back into the safe house.

"Oh," Emil pointed to the back of the building, "There are some beds down there."

"And where can I shower?"

"At the back of the building there's a door that leads to a bathroom."  
"Cool."  
"But…"  
"But?"  
"It needs to be cleaned."

Ugh. Dirty bathrooms are _disgusting_. Unfortunately, I had to make do with that hellhole for the night.

* * *

It was black. I can't see anything, not even the floor. It was like never-ending darkness.

I saw something far away. I squinted to see who or what it was, but that didn't help. I took a step forward. I started to walk. I started to jog. I started to run.

Before I knew it I was sprinting towards whatever it was. Why did I want to come close to it so badly? Why does it suddenly feel like I _need_ whatever is over there?

The figure was getting clearer. It was…Emil? I had to get his attention. I tried to call his name, but I couldn't talk. I…I had to touch him. Push him maybe. When I was close enough, I grabbed his shoulder. He turned around.

It looked like he was in shock. His face and his clothes were covered in blood. What happened..?

"S-stay away from me…"

I didn't move.

"Go! Get out of here! Don't look at me!"

I tried to say something, but still not a word came out.

"Go away! Lei, you idiot! Why didn't you just die back then?!"

What is he talking about? I blinked, and then turned around. There was someone right in front of me now. It was…Kaoru?

"God will welcome you~."

There was a sudden pain. A sharp pain. I looked down at my stomach to the source of the pain. Kaoru has forced a knife into my stomach. I collapsed.

Sunlight told me to wake up. I let out a yawn and forced myself to sit up. Emil was already awake. He was sweeping the floor.

Without looking up at me, Emil said, "Good morning."  
"Morning." I replied.

"Did you have a nice sleep?"

"Eh…"

That was the worst dream I ever had.

"Emil…" I murmured

"Hmm?" Emil was barely listening to me.

I was about to ask something, but I shook my head.

"Let's try our best to stay alive today." Emil smiled.

"Yeah…" I nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey Emil," I said a little reluctantly, "Why didn't you go with Michelle and back to your friends?"

Emil stopped sweeping and turned to me. He smiled, like he expected that I'd ask that at one point.

"I'm not ready to see them. While we were in the woods, I got into an argument with them. They were angry with me so I lagged behind the rest of them. That's how I ended up running in the opposite direction from all of them."

"But the more the merrier, right? You said you were gonna teach me some things, but won't I learn more from more people? It doesn't matter whether or not you decided to come, why couldn't I just go with Michelle?"

"…I guess I'm just selfish, huh?" Emil cocked his head to the side a little with that smile still on his face.

I smiled back and lightly punched his arm, "You're an idiot."

"Now that you've asked me an awkward question, can I ask you an awkward question?"

"Well, it's only fair, I guess. Okay."

"Why do you like being called 'Lei' and not 'Leon'?"

"Too personal!" I yelled.

"But you said it was only fair!"

I sighed, "If you _must_ know it's because 'Lei' is my birth name."

"Really? Then why was it changed?"  
"I was sent into an orphanage right after I was born. All my biological mother left was the name she gave me, 'Lei'. But when my father, Arthur, adopted me he changed it a few years after he got me."

"So you like to call yourself and have others call you 'Lei' as a way of remembering your mother. I get it!"

"Psh, I just like 'Lei' better. 'Leon' is way too posh."

Emil continued sweeping and I looked at my iPod. My battery was almost dead. I got two new messages, but they weren't from Kiku like last time.

**2 MESSAGES FROM YONG SOO**

_(3 hrs. ago) Dude i swear to god if you ran away AGAIN._

_(3 hrs. ago) U can hide in my house again if u want bro_

I thought about replying, but I realized if I did he might tell my dad. So I closed the message app and started listening to music. The music was loud and upbeat so I ended up getting lost in it. Before I knew it, Emil was shaking me and telling me to wake up.

"We're going on an expedition." He said.

"Expedition? Like a really long trip?"  
"Yeah. We're not going into the forest, don't worry. We're heading back into town for a few days."

"What for?" I was a little irritated, but then I looked I realized my music stopped playing.

My iPod's battery died. And I left my charger back at my house. If we went into town, I might be able to sneak into my house and get my charger...but do I really want to risk getting seen by Pops just for something as useless as my iPod? …Yes.

"You know what, it doesn't matter what for. Let's go, dude." I got up and headed for the door before something hit my back causing me to fall flat on my face.

Emil looked down at me, "You have to carry your supplies and I'll carry mine."

Emil generously packed everything I needed into a backpack, which he oh-so-kindly threw at my back. I picked up the backpack and carried it with me.

We walked for an hour before I finally realized where we were. We were near the supermarket, which was about a fifteen minute walk from my house.

"Bro, is it okay if I go into my house for like a minute?"

Emil snapped his head at me, "What?! Why?! Your dad might see you!"

"Don't worry, Emil! I'm good at sneaking around! Just wait on the sidewalk!"

I started sprinting towards my house, Emil following behind me. I guess he realized he couldn't stop me now. I was determined to get my charger. As I got closer to my house I slowed down. I looked in the garage to see if my dad's car was there. It wasn't; he was probably still at work. I knew he always kept the garage door unlocked, so I lifted up the gate and slid under, dropping the gate back down.

Even though I knew no one was home, I still carefully walked around my house. It felt like I was in some foreign land and if I made even the slightest bit of noise something bad would happen. It made me uncomfortable.

I crept up the staircase and slowly opened the door into my room. It was just as I left it; a total mess. Guess Dad didn't bother cleaning it. I saw my iPod charger on my bed, grabbed it, and stuffed it into my backpack.

"Lei! Hurry up and leave! I think your dad's car is pulling in!"

Shit. I called back to Emil that I was coming and I slammed my door shut. I went flying down the stairs and ran across the living room until something tripped me making me fall. I flipped my body over to see someone familiar standing over me.

"Gullible~."

"P-Potential Rapist…"


	5. Chapter 5

"I didn't know you were _this_ easy to fool!" Reaper Emil teased.

"Well you sound like Emil…" I looked away from Reaper Emil's gaze. "What do you want from me anyway?"

"Oh how I wish I could explain it all to you! But I can't. You'll have to figure that out on your own."

"Like, how will I figure it out on my own if you might be the only person who can tell me?"

"Lei! What's keeping you?!" that was normal Emil from outside. If I stayed in here any longer Emil might come in himself.

"Can I at least know your name?" I asked.

"Jakob Bondevik~."

"Hmph." I pushed Jakob off of me while his guard was down.

I stood up and quickly ran toward the garage door. I bent down and grabbed the handle. I struggled to pull up the gate at first, but when I realized that Jakob was still in here I gathered the strength to fling the gate open and run out.

"What took you so long?" complained Emil.

"Er…well…I ran into my Reaper in there."

"…Idiot." Emil kept walking.

I puffed out my cheeks. "At least I got away without him killing me."

"Right, right. Oh, he didn't hurt you did he?"

"I just scraped my knee when he tripped me. No biggie."

We walked for the rest of the day until finally Emil said that we can rest at a motel. We rented a room for the night and I charged my iPod in one of the sockets in our room.

Emil treated my scraped knee with a first-aid kit he brought with him. I felt a little embarrassed just sitting there. I felt like a child that got hurt and the mother is treating the injury.

"You didn't have to do anything to it. I'm fine." I murmured.

"You might've died…" he whispered back, "This is gonna burn."

He put rubbing alcohol on my wound. I winced at the burning pain caused by it.

"C-couldn't you just use hydrogen peroxide or something? It hurts a lot less than alcohol…"

"Hydrogen peroxide kills the tissue that's supposed to heal the wound. Alcohol is safer. Now take off your shirt."

"…Huh?"

"You heard me."

I reluctantly took off my shirt. There was another large cut on my back. Jakob must've slashed me while I was running away and I didn't notice. I looked at the back side of my shirt, and there were blood stains on it. No wonder Emil noticed.

Emil took a cloth from the first-aid kit and applied pressure to the cut. I frowned. For some reason, I didn't like Emil helping me. I felt useless.

"I'm going to apply rubbing alcohol now." Said Emil after he stopped the bleeding.

"Ohhhh no! You're not putting that on me again!" I quickly got up and ran towards the bathroom.

"Ehh?! Wait! I have to or else it might get infected!" Emil chased me with the bottle of alcohol.

I ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I tried to lock it, but I noticed that the lock was broken. Not knowing what to do, I frustratingly waiting for Emil to open the door and pull me out.

I sat on the bed with my arms on my legs as Emil got ready to put the alcohol on my back. As soon as the alcohol touched the large wound, it hurt so much I couldn't even scream. I clenched my hands into a fist and started shaking from the pain of the rubbing alcohol. Emil finished putting the alcohol on the wound and bandaged it afterward. Tears were rolling down my cheeks.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Emil hugged me from behind. I didn't look at him. I just acted as if he didn't hug me.

"Idiot…" he said again, "You might've died…"

"I know…" I replied, "I'm just as stupid as you are."

There was only one bed in our room, so we slept together that night. I had another strange dream that night.

Instead of it being black everywhere, it was white. Once again, far in the distance, stood Emil. He wasn't scared this time, nor was he coated in blood. He was smiling warmly and waited for me to walk up to him.

In the end, I walked up to him and he greeted me with a hug.

He whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry."  
"Sorry? For what?" I wanted to say that, but just like the last dream I was mute.  
"I'm a liar. I'm sorry." He said, "I'm really sorry."

We were both silent. I just stood there while Emil hugged me. I didn't bother hugging him back. I closed my eyes and just kept listening to him apologize over and over. I opened my eyes again. Kaoru was behind Emil.

"You love him, don't you?" said Kaoru. He wasn't speaking to Emil, he was speaking to me.

"You do love him. If you don't right now you're going to. Jakob and I, we knew this already. Because the same thing happened to you before. Time does repeat itself after all…"

I opened my eyes. Once again, Emil woke up before me. He was checking through the backpacks to make sure everything was still there.

"Good morning." He said.

"Hey." I replied, "We're gonna leave, right?"

"Yeah," said Emil, "We're almost to our destination."

We left the motel and continued walking. The dream I had last night lingered inside my head. What was Emil lying to me about? Why did he just apologize to me repeatedly as if he did something terribly wrong? I stared at Emil as he walked ahead. He didn't look anxious or guilty at all.

I've gotten so caught up in the dream that I bumped into Emil when he stopped walking.

"We're here." He said.

He pointed to an average house. I stared at it intensely to see anything strange or unique about it. But there wasn't anything. It was just a normal house.

"This," Emil explained, "Is where I used to live."


	6. Chapter 6

"Huh," I said, "You don't live too far from me."

"Well, I _didn't_." Emil explained, "I don't live here anymore."

"Does your brother still live here?"

Emil nodded, "Yes. But, as far as he is concerned, I'm missing. And I am pretty sure that the police said I committed suicide somewhere far away from here. So whatever you do, don't let my brother see I'm here!"

"Okay. You wouldn't mind if I followed you inside, right?" I asked somewhat hopefully.

Emil thought for a moment, "Fine. You can be a second pair of eyes to make sure we don't get caught. Be as quiet as you can and don't touch anything!"

Emil led me to a backdoor which then led to his garage. There was a single car inside.

"Great," sighed Emil, "He's home. Be really, really careful, okay?"

"I heard you the first time." I complained.

Emil peered through a door window before slowly opening it. He turned to me and pressed his finger against his lips as another reminder to be quiet. I rolled my eyes.

He slowly tiptoed into what looked like a basement and I followed just a slow. Inside this basement were some untouched old boxes and just as old pictures. They seemed to be pictures of Emil and one other serious-looking man. I assumed it was his brother.

Emil entered through another door which led to his living room. Before I even got a chance to take one step through, Emil shoved me back into the basement.

"He's there!" Emil hissed.

"Lemme see!" I whispered anxiously.

I peered around the corner to see a young blonde man flipping through TV channels. It's hard to tell that Emil and his brother are even related, because their hair and eye color are completely different.

"Is that really your bro?" I asked.

"We're not related!" Emil snapped, "I'm an adopted child. Did I fail to mention that?"

My gaze suddenly became intense, "You're…adopted?"

Emil gave me a warm smile and nodded, "We just get more and more alike. Anyway, his name is Lukas. He's been taking care of me ever since our parents died. We spent a lot of time with his cousins, but that's about it."

I looked back around the corner, "Looks like he's heading into another room."

"Great! Let's hurry!"

Emil and I darted through the living room and upstairs to the bedrooms. There, Emil headed into one of the two bedrooms in the house.

"This is Lukas's room." He said as he looked through drawers.

"I thought you said not to touch anything."

"Correction: I told _you_ not to touch anything!" He quickly replied.

I huffed and said, "What are you looking for any—"

Emil interrupted me, "Found it!"

With a satisfied expression on his face, he pulled out a pistol. I took a few steps back.

"Why do we need a gun?" I said a little worried.

"To beat the Reapers, duh! I want to test a theory, so I need this." He explained.

I was about to say something back to him, when we heard footsteps coming upstairs. My heartbeat sped up and I froze, fortunately Emil grabbed my arm and tugged me under the bed.

We heard the door creak open. I saw Lukas's shoes walk around the room. They halted at the spot where Emil opened the drawer he failed to close. After a moment, Lukas left the room and we waited there until the footsteps faded.

"We have to get out of here, quick!" Said Emil in a panicked voice.

"Gotcha!" I said as I crawled back out of the bed.

There we rushed out of the room towards the staircase. Emil, who was in such a panic, lost his balance on the stairs and fell the rest of the way down. He lay unconscious at the foot. I gasped and hurried down the stairs (careful to keep my own balance) where I carefully picked up Emil.

"Dammit," I muttered, "Lukas is sure to have heard that…"

I ran as fast as I could to the basement, and when I was about to open the door I heard Lukas's footsteps again. He's sure to be investigating the strange thumping noises that have come from down the stairs. I made my breathing quiet and I dared not to walk on the concrete flooring of the basement since my shoes would make a noise upon stepping on it.

I tried my best to be as quiet as possible, but Emil, who was in Dream Land at the time, was all but quiet.

"Big brother…" he mumbled, "I'm cold…"

"Shh shut up!" I murmured.

"Big bro—"

I put my hand on Emil's mouth. He let out a few groans before he stopped talking. Unfortunately for me, he stopped a little too late because I heard footsteps coming in my direction. I hurried to the far back of the basement where it was darker. Lukas opened the door and looked around, then he turned around and started out the door.

I let out a sigh of relief, before Emil freaking started to ramble again.

"Lei…" He said rather loudly, "I…want Lei…"

He squirmed slightly and kicked a box.

"You motherfucker!" I hissed in his ear.

"Emil?!" Shouted Lukas as he rushed down to the back of the basement.

I quickly scooted Emil and I behind a big box and covered Emil's mouth once again. Lukas frantically looked about the basement before he turned around.

"I'm such a terrible brother…" He murmured before walking out of the basement.

After a moment of sitting behind the box I once again dragged Emil out to the garage and through the backdoor. I spent _the rest of that day_ dragging Emil without being noticed all the way back to that stupid cheap motel. I can't believe by just falling down a flight of stairs he could stay knocked out for a whole day. I threw him onto the motel bed and sat there next to him playing with my iPod.

A few hours passed and it was well past midnight as I laid down under the covers next to Emil, listening to music on my iPod. Suddenly, Emil's arms and legs wrapped around my body and he pulled me into a tight childish hug.

"Are you awake, Emil?" I sighed.

"…" He seemed to still be a little out of it, "I'm cold. Hold me."

Well, no use arguing with someone half asleep. I hugged him back. He dug his head into my chest, making himself seem even more childish.

"You're warm…" He rumbled with his face pressed against my chest.

When I thought that he finally fell back to sleep, I let go of him. After a moment, he tugged on my shirt.

"Please," He begged, "Don't let go of me."

I sighed and brought him back into my embrace.

"You're warm…" He repeated as he once again pressed his face against my chest, "You make me feel safe…"

"Do I now?" I said, with the feeling of tiredness finally creeping up on me.

"I love you…" He mumbled.

I expected to hear him say "big brother" after that love confession. He didn't. My eyes widened slightly at what he said after that.

Before I went to sleep I mumbled back, "I love you too."

* * *

_Author: I deeply apologize for this chapter being released so late! I really want to explain myself, but it's a long story that would bore you to death. Unfortunately, I cannot promise a new chapter coming soon. I'll try to release it as soon as I can, but please do not get your hopes up. _


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up the next morning to see Emil sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed.

"Hey." I said to him.

He jumped and let out a little squeak before he blurted out, "G-good morning Lei! Did you sleep well?!"

I let out a quiet laugh before I said, "Yes, I slept fine. Did _you_?"

"I-I suppose! I mean I don't even really remember falling asleep! Funny, riiiight?!"

I sighed, "What's up?"

"Up?! Nothing is up! Unless you count the ceiling of course!"

"Dude." I said a little frustrated.

He let out a sigh, "You were awake last night, weren't you? I apologize if I said anything that made you uncomfortable…"

"No it's fine!" I said quickly, "You were really cute last night actually!"

I covered my mouth. Did I seriously just say that?

"What…happened last night, anyway?" Emil asked cautiously.

"You fell down a flight of stairs," I explained, "You must've hit your head a few times because you were unconscious for the rest of that day."

"Oh…" Murmured Emil, "Well, I doubt I hit my head a few times because there's only a small pain I feel in my head right now. I've hit my head pretty hard a few times before, so I guess my skull and brain aren't in tiptop shape anymore."

"Is that a good thing?"

"I'm not dead, right? So it's a good thing."

I didn't bother telling him the truth. He wouldn't want to know. Although, this incident had me thinking. I noticed that Emil tried not to sleep anywhere close to me my first night with him and he's always up before me…

"Emil?" I asked hesitantly, "You…sleep, right?"

"Hah? Of course I do, like any other normal human being!"

"You aren't lying? I mean, you've been up before I have for three consecutive nights without fail…"

Emil was silent for a moment before he said, "I'm an early bird. You must sleep so long because you're constantly on that iPod."

"I used to wake up before my dad, and he gets up at like six in the morning!"

Emil sighed, "Okay, I may suffer from _a little_ insomnia."

"Insomnia huh?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Okay, so _maybe_ I've barely slept these past few days on purpose. But I have a legitimate excuse!"

"I'm listening."

"…I don't wanna say it."

"Say it."

"No."

"Say it."

"I won't say it!"

"Say it."

"Oh God fine! I tend to sleepwalk whenever I fall asleep! I don't want to embarrass myself by spurting out nonsense and doing really stupid things in my sleep!"

"Oh. Well then last night makes a lot of sense now."

"Wait, what _did_ happen last night?!" Emil screamed, now realizing I never told him what he did.

"Don't worry about it!" I said while waving my hand, "Nothing embarrassing happened, I promise. But dude, now that I know about your sleepwalking you have nothing to be embarrassed about! You can sleep soundly every night!"

Emil hesitantly replied, "A-are you sure that's okay? I don't want to keep you up all night…"

Okay so maybe I lied about nothing embarrassing happening. But damn, I would get a nice laugh when Emil acts like a toddler who wants their mommy every night.

"Well then!" Said Emil trying to forget last night, "Let us be on our way! Because I am starving!"

Emil and I walked back to the safe house, stopping for some breakfast on our way there. When we opened the door into the safe house, we got a pleasant surprise.

"So this is where you have been hiding all this time? It was so obvious~!"

There stood Kaoru with a smirk on his face as he rummaged through the things in the safe house.

"Kaoru..!" Emil said, in shock that the safe house was no longer a safe house.

"What a shame that the only place you could hide in was this junk storage building."

"Lei," Emil whispered, "Get the gun out of my backpack…"

I glanced at Kaoru. He started on one of his usual rants about how Emil must die and how Emil couldn't live forever. I slowly reached my hand over to Emil's backpack and pulled out the small pistol from the smallest pocket.

"Kaoru!" I yelled, "Burn in hell!"

"Ehhh?" Kaoru whined after being interrupted from his rant.

I quickly aimed and fired the gun, which, to my luck, hit Kaoru smack dab in his left shoulder. Kaoru took a few steps back, and looked at the blood begin to stain his shirt. Frantically, he yelled that he'll be back and then disappeared for the time being.

However, a few moments after I have shot Kaoru, a twisting, searing pain shot up my own left shoulder. I gasped and clenched onto it. I fell down to my knees and Emil in a mini panic helped me back up.

"What's wrong?!" He screamed searching my body for any wounds.

"I don't know! It feels like I've been sh—"

I paused. It was all coming together. I shot Kaoru in the shoulder which, after a few moments, caused me to have the feeling of being shot in that shoulder. Are Kaoru and I somehow connected..? No. I don't understand how that can be possible other than our physical appearance and pain. For a moment, I thought that Kaoru was actually me, but I quickly shook that ridiculous thought out of my head.

I pushed Emil out of the way, "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I just felt a little pain for a moment…I'll be fine I'm not really hurt."

Emil slowly nodded, "I'll trust you, Lei. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead right now."

I smiled, "Heh. Well I am just that cool."

"Kaoru was going on with another rant so I barely paid attention to him. He said something about it just being his job and that he likes it no more than we do…though I'm sure he's lying."

"So we'll just dismiss him as being a liar!" I laughed.

As always, the night came. Emil and I prepared for bed.

"Are you sure this is alright..?" Emil asked once again, feeling uneasy.

"I'm sure! You need to sleep, man! If you can't sleep, I'll scrape up some sleeping pills."

Emil gave me a soft smile even though I knew he was still uncomfortable with all of this. Right when I turned around to grab my iPod, he was already dead asleep. He must've been really tired, and I'm surprised he went all this way without a god night's sleep for three days. As expected, merely an hour and a half after he fell asleep, he began his sleepwalking.

"It's so dark…" He mumbled in a frantic tone, "Mommy and Daddy are dead…"

I leaned over to try to soothe Emil from the nightmare he was having. As I reached my hand over, Emil's eyes opened wearily. Emil had this blind expression in his eyes. His eyes were dim and he looked as if he was looking right through someone rather than at one.

"Emil?" I said quietly.

"Mommy and Daddy are dead," said Emil again, "Because I killed them."

My eyes widened, and I took my hand back to myself. For some reason, I dare not touch Emil after he said that.

Emil continued in a monotone speech, "It's all my fault. I loved them so much, I wanted them so badly. I was so selfish that I didn't want even big brother to have them, so I killed them both. I cut out their hearts and kept them safely locked away in my room…"

I blinked. Emil is really descriptive in his sleep, it's creepy. That image won't leave my head for a while.

"Don't tell big brother…" He mumbled before his eyes closed once again.

"Lei…" He whispered, "I love you so much, I want you so badly…"

"Emil, I…" I couldn't finish the sentence.

* * *

_Author: I lied, I had nothing to do today so I was able to add another chapter! You may now be happy! :D_


	8. Chapter 8

I didn't sleep. I _couldn't_ sleep. I mean Emil, the person I've grown to trust these past few days, just confessed to murdering his own parents. How can I face him? I didn't.

I couldn't.

* * *

And so, late into the night, I half-heartedly started to pack up my bag. My hair was still a mess and I had bags under my eyes. All I had was a few dollars in my pocket and my i-Pod. I was getting ready to leave when I looked over at a shelf at the end of the room. On the shelf was the gun. I stared at the gun for a moment before I picked it up. I cocked the hammer back until I heard a click. Then, slowly, I turned to Emil. He was sound asleep. He was still mumbling things but I didn't pay any attention. I unconsciously raised the gun towards Emil and closed my eyes.

Bang.

"…Idiot…"

I opened one of my eyes. Smoke was coming out of the muzzle of the gun. I looked up and gasped.

Kaoru was there. His arms were spread out and there was blood staining his shirt.

"It's my job to kill Emil…I won't let you interfere…"

I lowered the gun. I then felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I gasped again and fell to my knees.

"Hurts, doesn't it..? If I get wounded, you share my pain, so you should be more careful next time…"

"Why..?" I mumbled.

Kaoru raised a brow. "What?"

I growled back. "Why did you get in the way?! Emil…he should die, you said that yourself…"

"Tch!" Kaoru scoffed and stepped on my back. "If anyone is gonna kill Emil, it's gonna be me! Not some weak kid that ran away from home!"

"If Emil lives any longer he'll probably end up killing me too!" My voice cracked.

"Emil would never do that!" Kaoru blurted out. "All Emil said was that he killed his parents! He never said he did it on his own will, you dumbass!"

"…Eh?"

Kaoru continued yelling. "That's right, he loved his parents! He loved his parents with all his heart and all his soul! One night he fell soundly asleep and he ended up sleepwalking! He stabbed his parents to death with a knife! That's exactly why he stopped sleeping! He didn't sleep because he didn't want to kill you too! He cares about you like he cared about his parents, you idiot!"

". . ." I couldn't speak. I felt tears roll down my cheeks.

Kaoru took his foot off of my back. "…You planned on running away before you saw the gun, right? I won't stop you from running away…" Kaoru looked like he too was about to cry. "But don't kill Emil."

With that, Kaoru disappeared. The commotion caused Emil to turn about in his sleep, but he didn't wake. To my own surprise, I completely broke down into tears. I was screaming and gasping and hiccupping.

I cried for about a half an hour. When I finally calmed down, I placed the gun back on the shelf where I found it. I walked up to where Emil was sleeping. I smiled a little.

* * *

I ended up running away. I left the money that was in my pocket on the shelf next to the gun. All I had was my i-Pod. I still had tearstains on my face. I continued to walk until the sun began to dawn. I stopped right in my tracks. I was right in front of my house.

I looked at my house. It was in that moment that I realized it. I had nowhere to run away to. This wasn't my home anymore, and I had no one left. No one left except Emil…

"Ah man…" I mumbled before I turned around and dashed back towards the motel.

I ran for a few moments until I slowed down. There was someone walking down the sidewalk. All I saw was the silhouette at first, until they came closer and closer towards me. I then realized who it was.

"…Emil…" I mumbled.

Emil looked up towards me. He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything.

Emil then broke the silence. "I was worried that Jakob kidnapped you." He called over to me.

I smiled gently. "I was just taking a walk. I wanted to get back before you woke up."

Emil ran up towards me. He looked like he was about to cry. "I was worried!"

"Sorry, sorry." I giggled. "I know how much you care about me."

"Huh?" Emil then blushed a deep shade of red. "A-as a friend!" He quickly added.

I sighed and pouted. "So this is what it feels like to be friend-zoned…"

Emil huffed. "P-please don't go for walks without me again!"

"Yes mother…"

"…I was really worried…" He murmured again.

I smiled and patted Emil on the head. "I know."


End file.
